Rockbox Technical Forums

Rockbox General => Rockbox General Discussion => Topic started by: Cassandra on December 04, 2006, 04:28:08 PM

Title: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 04, 2006, 04:28:08 PM
It's been a while in the works, mostly due to me getting distracted, but there's a fairly solid version of the Rockbox Utility up on the wiki at:

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxUtility

What does it do?  Downloads and automatically installs/uninstalls Rockbox.  In a fairly groovy way.

Supports all of the current daily builds.  Internationalisation and Linux/Mac versions are both very much a possibility for the future, since it's written in a way that makes implementing these things not too tricky.

Try it, test it, break it, let me know what you think.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: epithetless on December 07, 2006, 08:17:17 PM
I guess I'm the first to say: Thanks, Cassandra!
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: gummbah on December 08, 2006, 12:04:38 PM
Now we only need a fully working, bug free Rockbox for the Ipod, and we are off!

(just kidding).

Thanks for this.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 10, 2006, 10:44:08 AM
Well, there's a bit more to do on the installer too - like make it install the bootloader too, and fully support running from the device itself.  Hoping to produce another update soon, but I've been suffering with a stomach bug.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 11, 2006, 05:39:57 PM
Code is now in CVS, if anyone fancies having a play.  Please submit patches through the patch tracker.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: lachlan on December 11, 2006, 07:41:15 PM
This may be a stupid question, but which players does it work on?
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 11, 2006, 08:20:58 PM
Every player supported by Rockbox.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 12, 2006, 08:03:43 PM
Rockbox Utility is now cross-platform.

Just to let people know that linuxstb has got the Rockbox Utility to compile under Linux using wxWidgets-2.8.0pre3.  If anyone felt like knocking together some unofficial Debian or Redhat packages, that might be cool.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: lachlan on December 12, 2006, 10:49:39 PM
Cool, I'll definately use this once there's a Ipod 5.5 80Gb port.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 14, 2006, 01:31:42 AM
Version 0.2.1 is now available on the wiki.  This adds support for installing rbutil direct to your media player and revamps the uninstall to be a little more clever.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Kreator666 on December 15, 2006, 01:12:40 AM
I knew somebody will come along with one of these and make me useless someday ;)

Well, I'm the lead developer of the unofficial installer for iPods, and that is a completed application.  Everything is automatic (iPod detection, installing bootloaders/builds).
So, if you want any help with anything (but it looks like you don't), you can ask.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Llorean on December 15, 2006, 01:16:43 AM
Our goal is for the installer to work on all Rockbox targets, not just iPods.

As well, as iPodPatcher is coming along, there's going to be less chance of something going wrong, even if you install more than once on top of each other. :)
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Kreator666 on December 15, 2006, 01:43:21 AM
I know, I was just offering help for the iPod side of things ;)
More then anything, detection.

I think that the biggest thing for this would be to have everything automatic (like my installer for the iPods) so that people don't even have to select which mp3 player they are installing it to.  If it is possible to detect all the players without user interaction... Well, that remains to be found.

Of course, I understand that the core installation coding isn't completed, but once it does come to the niceties I do suggest that you look into detection.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Llorean on December 15, 2006, 01:49:49 AM
Right now, the new iPodPatcher can detect what sort of iPod it is automatically. Figuring out which drive it is automatically is going to be added. Some of the other players (H100/H300 at least) can't really be identified from the PC side, I don't think.

But yeah, I mean, contribute where you can 'n all. :)
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Kreator666 on December 15, 2006, 02:23:20 AM
The new iPodPatcher sounds nice, especially after all the sysinfo/drive size stuff I had to figure out :P

Well, shoot me a PM if you (Cassandra or anybody who is working on this) want help or even want to look over the source code for my installer.
Good luck!
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Cassandra on December 15, 2006, 04:14:45 AM
Detection is something I'm looking into at the moment, possibly using USB IDs, but Windows is very coy about giving up that sort of info.  In Linux it's easier, but then you have the problem of mounting the drive from in the application.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Domonoky on February 10, 2007, 09:23:15 AM
Hi,
i modifyed rbUtil so it uses the new ipodpatcher.
So i have a version, which supports Bootloaderinstallation of Ipod / Iaudio and Gigabeat.
For the detection of the ipod, i used the --scan function of ipodpatcher.

A windows binary of this version can be found at: http://b23.org/~domonoky/rbutil.zip
Be Aware, this is all untested, so only try it if you know how to restore your player if something goes wrong.

I will upload a patch to the tracker shortly.

mfg Domonoky
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Domonoky on March 06, 2007, 12:13:50 PM

Rbutil now supports all working targets for Rockbox.
It can install the Bootloader, Rockbox, Fonts and Themes.
There is also Uninstallation for Rockbox, and, where the Unit supports it, also Bootloader uninstallation.

You can find a windows binary at:
http://b23.org/~domonoky/rbutil-theme.zip

in the Wiki there is also a Mac binary, but its not uptodate.
Rbutil also works on Linux, but i havent found a way to make a portable Linux binary.

be carefull the bootloader installation for iaudio isnt tested, so only try it on this platform if you know how to restore, if something goes wrong.

If you have suggestions/Bug reports post it here or in the Tracker.

mfg Domonoky

Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: bk on March 06, 2007, 08:39:39 PM
http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/6685

Given all the new functionality someone needs to bump the version number.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: dohboy on April 19, 2007, 09:59:00 PM
Does any one know when the full version of RBUtil?
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: johnson4 on April 20, 2007, 03:14:18 PM
I've just tried this Utility out and I really like how it remembers my settings. My one suggestion would be to have a "One Click update" button on the opening page that would update Rockbox using the settings from the previous use.
Oh ya and how about Icon support?
Great Job , and thank you

Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: muerte33 on April 21, 2007, 09:21:09 AM
I love this utility too.  Since the bootloader is tied to the firmware (in my Gigabeat's case), it  may be a good idea to make a one step bootloader/firmware update choice.  Also, whenever I want to update the bootloader, it fails because there is already a backup with the name fwimg01.dat.orig.  I have to go in manually and take that .orig file out. Maybe the utility could rename the orig to orig1 up to orig5 (these are very small files, but CRITICAL).
Thanks again for this WONDERFUL utility.

RButil needs to be on the RockBox frontpage, I did not find it till later on in my RockBox experience.  This is a great utility for newbies and experienced users too!
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Llorean on April 21, 2007, 11:29:28 AM
Actually, if there's already a .orig, it should just not backup anything. Only the very first .orig is important, any new ones would just be old versions of the Rockbox bootloader, pointless to keep around.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Domonoky on April 21, 2007, 04:01:53 PM
The patch for rbutil in the Tracker fixes this problem.
But the patch has other problems, (Theme installer is not working on Linux) so its not ready.

I hope i will find a bit time to work a more on rbutil in the near future.

and if anyone likes to help (and knows C++), step in and help :-)

Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Bagder on April 21, 2007, 04:18:42 PM
Domonoky, please check out the new .rockbox/rockbox-info.txt file that is now present in all zips, it might help rbutil in certain ways. And if there are info we could add to that file to aid more, just speak up!
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: jambamkin on May 29, 2007, 05:29:57 PM
I think is a great leap forward for Rockbox and now there is a compiled OS X version its brilliant, i was wondering if it was too early to submit it to iusethis.com, a social mac app website. To catch Rockbox users who haven't seen this and people who may be umming and ahhing over the change.

Thought it was best to ask here before doing so.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Bagder on May 29, 2007, 05:41:22 PM
To me it sounds like a good idea, as I don't think we've had too many mac users actually trying out rbutil yet.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Domonoky on May 29, 2007, 07:14:59 PM
jeah, it would be nice to get a bit feedback from mac users for rbutil.
So go ahead and post it on this site.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: rasher on June 09, 2007, 11:55:09 PM
I've created a patch to allow building Debian packages (http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/7277). Unfortunately, wxwidgets2.8 probably won't be available for Debian anytime soon. The package can still be used on Ubuntu though, for which wxwidgets2.8 is available (confirmed to work at least in the dev version "Gutsy Gibbon / 7.10").

With any luck, rbutil could eventually be available directly from Ubuntu - at least one developer has expressed interest in packaging it for inclusion (http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20070308-00.comment).

On a side-note: Why was wxwidgets2.8 chosen? It seems that some (Debian, Gentoo) distributions are not offering it, possibly because it's still considered unstable (that's the reason for Debian at least). Would it be possible to move down to 2.6, or is that a lot of work, or even unfeasible?
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: aegis on June 10, 2007, 02:02:08 AM
Actually, there is a package for Debian available from the Sourceforge site of the wxwidgets    
              http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/
However, I have not tried it out, so I cannot tell whether it's working (and where it's working) or not.

Unfortunately, as you have said, it's not an official repository. In Debian unstable there is only 2.6 version, with no 2.8.4 version in experimental - so it would be nice to downgrade the version expectations, even just to think about users of some older or "more stable" machines, less popular distros etc. etc. Not everyone runs Ubuntu yet.  ;)

That's my 2 cents, plus my traditional thanks for all your Rockbox efforts!

Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Rincewind on June 10, 2007, 05:29:11 AM
wxwidgets2.8 isn't available in the ubuntu edgy (6.10) reps, only 2.6 and 2.4.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: Domonoky on June 10, 2007, 06:43:05 AM
Hi,

wxwidgets2.8 was choosen by cassandra and i think at this time no one thought it would be a problem with debian.

Also the MacOSX support of wx got better with 2.8 so i dont know if it possible to downgrade rbutil.
If someone has the time to try it, go ahead :-)
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: NicolasP on June 10, 2007, 10:10:59 AM
As aegis said, http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/ has unofficial repositories with 2.8.4 for those running debian or older versions of ubuntu. Feisty includes 2.8 in its universe repos. I think if we mention that 2.8 is required and that it's available in an unofficial repo, it should be all right.

I've packaged rbutil for Feisty. You can find it on the wiki page: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxUtility. Please try it out and give some feedback !
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: rasher on June 10, 2007, 04:37:16 PM
As aegis said, http://www.wxwidgets.org/downloads/ has unofficial repositories with 2.8.4 for those running debian or older versions of ubuntu. Feisty includes 2.8 in its universe repos. I think if we mention that 2.8 is required and that it's available in an unofficial repo, it should be all right.
It will however, prevent official Debian packages from emerging (which, if Benjamin Mako Hill was serious might have been a real possibility otherwise). I believe having official packages of rbutil would be a real benefit - some people might even stumble upon Rockbox when looking through the packages.

I've packaged rbutil for Feisty. You can find it on the wiki page: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/RockboxUtility. Please try it out and give some feedback !
I've uploaded a package for Gutsy (the current development version of Ubuntu) - I accidentally overwrote your package NicolasP, but moved things around, so it should be fixed now.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: NicolasP on June 10, 2007, 07:03:18 PM
I've uploaded a package for Gutsy (the current development version of Ubuntu) - I accidentally overwrote your package NicolasP, but moved things around, so it should be fixed now.
Looks like it's not quite fixed... I can't install any of the two packages on the wiki page. I'll build a new Feisty one with your latest changes.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: rasher on June 10, 2007, 07:30:14 PM
I've uploaded a package for Gutsy (the current development version of Ubuntu) - I accidentally overwrote your package NicolasP, but moved things around, so it should be fixed now.
Looks like it's not quite fixed... I can't install any of the two packages on the wiki page. I'll build a new Feisty one with your latest changes.
Could be that I overwrote the wrong file - I made a mess of it. Anyway, if you update it it should be fine again. I also managed to build a package for Debian Unstable, based on the unofficial wxwidgets2.8 packages.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: robin0800 on June 10, 2007, 07:50:08 PM
On a related point ipod patcher just been updated to look for both 0xB
and 0xC patitions you may need to modify your auto detection to cover this
see irc chat this evening.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: linuxstb on June 10, 2007, 07:54:36 PM
On a related point ipod patcher just been updated to look for both 0xB
and 0xC patitions you may need to modify your auto detection to cover this
see irc chat this evening.

rbutil uses ipodpatcher's code directly - so rbutil was updated at the same time as ipodpatcher was.
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: rasher on June 11, 2007, 12:33:39 PM
I'm not a huge fan of the way the buttons look. Partially the quickly done buttons, and partly the "3d" background which looks extremely out of place on my desktop. So I decided to play around with using icons from the Tango Desktop Project (http://tango.freedesktop.org/) for them. Predictably, however, it didn't turn out too great because of aliasing issues (see attached screenshot). Would it be possible to use PNGs for the buttons to allow alpha transparency, or is this not supported by wxwidgets?

Edit: The "glossy" background on the buttons is just how buttons look with my current theme - not part of the png.

[attachment deleted by admin for age]
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: rasher on June 12, 2007, 09:58:19 AM
I've managed to make rbutil use pngs for the buttons. Looks so much nicer. I'll post a patch shortly.

EDIT: Patch posted here: http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/7294 Updated screenshot.

[attachment deleted by admin for age]
Title: Re: Rockbox Utility
Post by: evilnick on July 15, 2007, 09:51:03 PM
Apologies if this has already been mentioned but I can't get this to work when using Vista 64-bit.
When I double-click on rbutil.exe to open it, I get a prompt saying no devices found and then regardless of whether I click Yes or No to the Autodetect prompt then the program crashes.

Let me know if you need more details.